I recently had a wonderful week filming in Manila and
Pampanga in the Piglippines… I mean Philippines. Yes, the place is pork heaven
central. Anthony Bourdain may have declared the best roast pig is actually
found in Cebu there, but that’s another story and debate. They stew, deep fry,
bbq, chop up the head and create a national dish (Sisig) and do stuff with the
offals… and in so many ways and flavours (as long as it’s with vinegar). A
private home dining chef (Pepita’s Kitchen) also created her own roast suckling
pig stuffed with mushroom rice and accented with truffle oils - and won a local
award for it. She uses a unique stone brick oven at home instead of the usual
open pit fire grills. I was also bewildered when we visited the La Loma area in
Quezon City, Manila, their de facto lechon street. They roast them street side
and serve them inside their restaurants.

While there are enough roast pork and suckling pig joints in
Singapore, lechon stalls are quite absent from the scene. The main reason being
- you need a big open wood fire pit to roast lechon, the ideal way our Pinoy
friends, would like it done. That, is expensive retail space and not practical
in logical Singapore. There are some smaller wood fire grill lechon liempo (sio
bak) and lechon manok (roast chicken) stalls around but hardly anyone roasts an
entire pig. Then there’s these Iskina Cebu folks which I was onced “warned”
about by a petrol station cashier and manager “you have to go about 6pm when
the whole pig is freshly bbq’ed, otherwise, later, all finished liao.”

It’s a coffeeshop stall behind a bus stop and there was a
queue in the corner of the otherwise quiet eatery. The crowd was mesmerised by
this whole pig sizzling over an open wood fire pit. They just wanted a slab of the juicy meat with
thin skin crackling over rice ($10) and some vinegar garlic dip. “We grill this
25kg hog for about 4hours and it’s stuffed with garlic, lemongrass and onions
and spring onions.” says Brenda Calledo, who managed the place with her son and
owner Chris, who was out of town. They grill one pig a day but come Fridays to
Sundays, two are put over the coals.

It’s not like what it is in Cebu (Lechon capital of the Philippines,
where Bourdain flipped over for) but it’s the best we get here based on supply
quality and grill environment (you need a lot more breathing space for perfect
grilling). But it came juicy, some would think it’s like chicken, and if you get
the uber crispy thin back skin with nary any fats below (the best part), then
it’s a party in the mouth. You don’t need much dip - the marinate stuffing and
simple salts is enough to please.

Their lechon liempo ($6 with rice) or the sio bak, is done
sans baking powder, like how many roast meat joints here employ, and it come
just naturally crispy. Have them both with their own version of ketupat or
plain rice and get back in touch with the simple natural pleasures of roast
meat over rice. The roast chicken or lechon manok, is just a side show here -
it sells out only after the piggy is gone.

My advice is to go early, around 5.30pm, to stalk the hog, when
it comes off the grill.